Market Watch: Louisville, Baltimore Top Belmont Stakes MMs

For the race portion of the Preakness Stakes on ABC from 5:30-7:00pm ET, Louisville topped all Nielsen metered markets (MMs) for the third straight year. Most markets had year-over-year declines from last year's race, which had Big Brown's attempt at winning the Triple Crown. However, compared to '07, which was the last time a horse was not going for the Triple Crown, most markets saw gains in local ratings. Looking at '04-09, Louisville, Memphis and Orlando-Daytona Beach have been the most volatile markets, while Detroit, Boston and Milwaukee have been the most stable. The chart below lists MM ratings for the race portion of the Belmont Stakes since '04 (THE DAILY).

BELMONT STAKES RACE SEGMENT METERED-MARKET RATINGS TREND

RK

MARKET (SIZE)

'09

'08*

'07

'06

'05

'04*

1

Louisville (50)

14.6

18.3

8.0

6.5

11.0

24.3

2

Baltimore (26)

8.2

13.1

5.2

4.5

7.5

24.1

3

Albuquerque-Santa Fe (44)

7.9

11.5

1.9

2.9

6.0

10.6

4

Orlando-Daytona Beach (19)

7.7

16.2

5.0

6.3

8.0

20.1

5

Ft. Myers-Naples (62)

7.4

12.8

4.5

6.4

8.8

21.1

6t

Oklahoma City (45)

7.0

10.6

3.4

4.7

6.7

20.6

6t

Richmond (58)

7.0

14.0

4.7

2.6

5.6

16.9

8

Tulsa (61)

6.9

9.2

5.1

4.2

5.2

13.2

9

New York (1)

6.7

11.9

3.9

5.8

9.9

20.7

10t

Knoxville (59)

6.5

11.9

1.8

3.0

9.7

18.2

10t

Las Vegas (42)

6.5

11.1

4.5

4.0

6.0

15.3

12

Pittsburgh (23)

6.3

10.3

5.2

3.5

4.5

19.9

13

West Palm Beach (38)

5.9

14.6

5.8

5.4

11.1

23.1

14

Hartford & New Haven (30)

5.8

10.0

4.9

5.1

9.6

18.6

15

Norfolk (43)

5.7

10.0

2.8

2.9

6.3

14.7

16t

Philadelphia (4)

5.6

11.5

4.1

4.9

10.2

28.1

16t

Portland (22)

5.6

5.9

1.8

2.6

4.9

13.7

18t

Chicago (3)

5.5

7.4

3.1

4.0

3.9

11.3

18t

Milwaukee (35)

5.5

3.8

4.6

3.0

6.4

13.2

20t

Birmingham (40)

5.4

9.2

3.8

3.3

4.1

9.0

20t

Nashville (29)

5.4

9.9

3.0

2.8

6.4

16.8

20t

Tampa-St. Pete (13)

5.4

10.5

3.9

3.8

8.4

19.3

23

Cincinnati (34)

5.3

10.5

4.3

4.3

5.3

16.2

24t

Atlanta (8)

5.1

11.7

3.6

3.7

3.3

13.9

24t

Buffalo (51)

5.1

10.7

4.1

7.1

9.0

17.9

24t

Detroit (11)

5.1

6.2

3.5

4.2

7.6

14.9

27t

Cleveland-Akron (17)

4.8

9.5

5.8

4.8

8.2

14.2

27t

Dayton (64)

4.8

12.6

3.6

3.9

5.4

12.7

29t

Austin (49)

4.7

10.2

4.3

2.9

4.5

13.5

29t

Jacksonville (47)

4.7

10.1

2.5

3.2

9.5

17.0

29t

New Orleans (53)

4.7

8.6

n/a

n/a

5.2

16.4

32t

Boston (7)

4.6

6.3

3.6

4.2

6.4

14.4

32t

Kansas City (31)

4.6

7.7

3.3

2.8

3.4

14.1

32t

Memphis (48)

4.6

6.7

1.5

2.7

6.2

12.3

32t

Raleigh-Durham (27)

4.6

9.6

2.4

2.8

3.6

13.0

32t

San Antonio (37)

4.6

7.5

4.0

3.6

3.7

16.0

32t

Washington, DC (9)

4.6

11.4

3.1

4.2

6.8

18.0

38t

Columbus (32)

4.5

10.2

4.4

4.0

4.9

13.9

38t

Indianapolis (25)

4.5

10.9

5.7

4.6

5.9

11.7

40

Dallas-Ft. Worth (5)

4.1

8.6

2.5

3.4

4.4

13.6

41

Sacramento (20)

4.0

8.9

1.7

2.5

3.2

10.6

42

Phoenix (12)

3.9

9.0

4.4

3.6

4.0

13.6

43t

Denver (18)

3.8

7.8

3.5

3.2

4.7

14.1

43t

Miami-Ft. Lauderdale (16)

3.8

11.3

2.9

3.3

4.9

12.3

45

Los Angeles (2)

3.7

7.4

2.7

2.8

3.4

11.7

46t

Greenville-Spartanburg (36)

3.6

11.1

2.8

2.1

4.6

13.6

46t

Providence (52)

3.6

6.1

2.3

2.0

6.1

13.5

48

Minneapolis-St. Paul (15)

3.4

8.1

2.0

1.9

5.2

11.3

49t

San Diego (28)

3.2

6.6

1.6

2.1

4.9

12.0

49t

Seattle-Tacoma (14)

3.2

6.7

4.0

2.8

4.7

9.9

49t

St. Louis (21)

3.2

7.4

2.4

4.4

11.6

17.9

52t

Greensboro-Winston-Salem (46)

3.1

6.6

2.3

1.9

5.1

13.1

52t

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose (6)

3.1

5.4

2.0

2.1

3.7

13.9

54t

Houston (10)

2.9

7.1

3.1

2.6

4.0

15.0

54t

Salt Lake City (33)

2.9

6.2

2.8

2.5

3.8

12.6

56

Charlotte (24)

2.6

9.3

2.5

1.8

2.7

10.3

NOTES: Race aired on NBC in '05 and '04. New Orleans ratings unavailable in '07 and '06 due to Hurricane Katrina. Volatile/stable market trends from '04-09 based on standard deviation. * = Race had a horse attempting to win Triple Crown.